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When the role calls for a man with dirty blonde hair, 6-foot-5, 250 pounds, of course you call Tom Cruise.

Cruise has signed on to star as Jack Reacher in "One Shot," the thriller by author Lee Childs, reported Deadline, which has been adapted by Chris McQuarrie, who will also be making his directorial debut with the film.

A lone gunman hides in a parking garage and shoots into a crowd in a public plaza in a small Indiana city. Five random people die in a senseless massacre. The shooter leaves a perfect trail behind him and the police quickly track him down. His name is James Barr. It's a watertight case. After his arrest, James Barr refuses to talk. Then, to his lawyer, he utters a single phrase: "Get Jack Reacher for me." But Reacher's already on his way. What could connect this obvious psychopath with our wandering ex-army cop?

"Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" Trailer

Tom Cruise's fourth installment of the high-flying spy thriller franchise is now on home video. "MI:4" co-stars Jeremy Renner, Simon Peg and Paula Patton, and is directed by Brad Bird.

(Published Wednesday, May 30, 2012)

Reacher's size is so integral to his character that Child lists the character's measurements on his site, so you can understand that maybe he Cruise wouldn't have been his first choice for the role. Though to the author's credit, he expressed his concerns in a very diplomatic fashion when the idea was first floated, saying, "Reacher's size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way."

Cruise can next be seen Dec. 16 in "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol."